Today, Austin began the first exercises of Urban Shield, a full-scale regional preparedness training.Over the next forty hours, Central Texas public safety agencies will assess the regions ability to successfully respond to and manage multiple terrorist events and emergencies throughout Travis, Hays and Williamson Counties.

It’s a massive event with over a dozen scenarios; earlier this month, the City of Austin was looking for 1,000 volunteer “victims” to take part in the demonstrations.